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پیر, مارچ 14, 2011

Saudi troops enter Bahrain

Bahraini security forces have brutally stepped up their crackdown on pro-democracy protesters who were trying to expand their rallies from the capital's main square to the country's main business hub. The forces fired teargas canisters and shot many from a close range. The protesters who were pushing to form a human chain blocking Bahrain Financial Harbor in Manama were attacked by the regime's security forces and were brutally beaten up.
Police then sought to disperse approximately thousandsd protesters by using tear gas and Batons in order to clear the road, the government statement said.
On Sunday, thousands of young people organized a protest in front of Bahrain Financial Harbor in the capital Manama, witnesses said.
Police and anti-riot squads stationed near the harbor fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters, leaving 200 injured, according to Salmanya Hospital. Al Wasat cameraman Mohammed Al-Mukharaq was among the seriously injured, his editor said.

MORE than 1000 Saudi troops, part of the Gulf countries' Peninsula Shield Force, have entered Bahrain where anti-regime protests have raged for a month, a Saudi official said. The troops entered the strategic Gulf kingdom on Sunday, the official said, requesting anonymity.
The intervention came "after repeated calls by the (Bahraini) government for dialogue, which went unanswered" by the opposition, the official said.
According to the regulations of the Gulf Cooperation Council, "any Gulf force entering a member state becomes under the command of the government," the official added.
The Bahraini government has not confirmed the presence of Saudi troops in the archipelago, which is home to the US Fifth Fleet.
Opposition protesters are demanding far-reaching democratic reform in the mainly Shi'ite country which has been ruled by a Sunni Muslim dynasty for more than 200 years.

The king has offered dialogue and a new, empowered parliament and other reforms but the opposition has refused to sit down to talks until the government resigns.
The Saudi intervention comes two days after US Defence Secretary Robert Gates visited Manama and held talks with the king in which he said he urged them to undertake rapid and significant reform.
Gates also said Washington was concerned that the longer the instability dragged on the more likely Iran, a Shi'ite theocracy, was to try to meddle in Bahrain's affairs.